Ag secretary to speak at rural forum in Missouri

PORTAGEVILLE — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is in southeast Missouri, and is expected to tell residents how the Department of Agriculture is trying to revitalize and rebuild rural America.

Vilsack, the former governor of neighboring Iowa, was scheduled to host a rural community forum Tuesday at the Delta Research Center in Portageville, about 160 miles south of St. Louis, in the Missouri Bootheel region, among the most impoverished areas of the state..

The USDA says Vilsack also wants to hear from rural residents about what they believe the USDA can do to help rural communities prosper in the 21st century economy.